Secrets Of The Beehive (CD)

David Sylvian

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Media Condition: Good CD

Comments: Review
After leaving his art-pop band Japan, singer and songwriter David Sylvian moved further away from the old group's new wave, proto-Duran Duran sound with each of his solo albums. By Sylvian's third LP, Secrets of the Beehive (1987 Virgin), he had mostly divorced himself from that prior aesthetic, crafting instead a very sophisticated brand of alternative pop that incorporates jazz, folk, and world elements. "The Boy with the Gun" charts the self-adulating, emotionless mindset of a budding killer, set to deceptively bucolic music made from acoustic guitar strums, quiet drums, and slow swells of synths. David Sylvian's understated crooning is the perfect vehicle for offsetting his generally dark-themed stories. In "When Poets Dream of Angels," Sylvian couldn't sound more casual as he vows, "Next time I'll break every bone in your body," while Spanish guitar melodies dance and dive around him. Not that Sylvian courts these shadowy moods – he also longs to "Let the Happiness In." Also, on the spare, meditative, haiku-like "Maria," he shows his tender side, singing, "Your every thought's my heartbeat." Featuring exquisite musicianship from the likes of avant-jazz guitarist David Torn and multi-talented trumpeter Mark Isham, David Sylvian's Secrets of the Beehive is mellifluously performed music that transcends the realm of standard pop/rock, while maintaining its structural appeal. Simply, it is a work of art.
-Michael Keefe